Ryan’s challenger supports keeping Confederate statues

DELAVAN—Paul Nehlen, Republican challenger to House Speaker Paul Ryan, said he supports President Donald Trump’s criticism of efforts to take down statues and memorials to the Civil War Confederacy.

"As a candidate for political office in Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, I stand with President Trump in opposing our nation's history and culture being ripped apart with the removal and desecration of historic statues and monuments," Nehlen said in a release from his office.

"One does not have to be a defender of the Confederacy to recognize that attempting to erase our nation's history is wrong and shameful."

Nehlen took issue with Antifa, which advocates opposition to facism, saying the organization “is hellbent on tarnishing all of our nation's founders and great leaders, from George Washington to Thomas Jefferson to Abraham Lincoln to Teddy Roosevelt, as 'racist.'"